


The Last of the Power Rangers

by Arytra



Category: Power Rangers
Genre: Angst, Everyone Lives At The End, Fluff, Gen, Minor Oc Characters, Power Rangers means Hope, Team as Family, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-07-17
Packaged: 2018-04-01 14:43:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4023763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where there is darkness, there are Power Rangers.  And through the darkness, they shall bring hope and light even when it seems as all is lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First off, I know that the movie is more of an AU to the series, but it works better for the fic.

Dulcea looked to the sky, staring out at the stars with her arms folded, staff against her chest. Something was coming even if she wasn’t sure what it was. Something that would mean a lot of trouble for all of them. She closed her eyes and pulled at it to try to get an idea of what it was. Her old friends were dead, lost to the ages and she was all that was left. Nothing should be able to find its way here again and nothing wanted to. She walked down from the cliff and looked out as the feeling began to take shape. She managed to keep herself from gasping at the sight. She was a mystic, but in all of the years since he’d died, he’s never come before. “Dulcea.”

“Zordon?” She asked, making sure she wasn’t seeing things. He paused in his advance before answering.

“I suppose that is the appearance you would expect me to take,” he agreed. His answer didn’t make sense, but she was more interested in why he was here. She could always question him about his answer later. “I require your assistance.”

“What would you have me do?” She asked, ready to help. Dead or not, Zordon was both an inspiration and an old friend.

“I need the power you gave to the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers years ago. I know when they died, the power returned,” he instructed. It was true, though she’d give them nothing as they had earned it. She’d mourned when the power had returned to her planet one by one until all were returned. She didn’t know how long ago that was. Time had never been important. She backed away a bit, looking at the figure with more suspicion.

“You know it doesn’t work that way,” she informed him. His eyes narrowed and blackened. No longer did he look like her old friend.

“Yours is the last I require,” he informed her and she ran. The figure behind her moved quickly. She called to the Power, trying to get it to help her keep the powers safe, but the Power needed Rangers to do its bidding. Anything she did would have to be a mix of her own magic and the Power itself. She paused and tried to send it out to the past, to those who had used the power before, but he caught her before she could finish it properly. He pulled her toward him until all she could see was the darkness in his eyes and then he struck. She screamed as he cut threw her spirit, leaving only a few loose feathers behind. The figure grinned and turned to take the power, only to find it gone. He screamed in rage as it had all been for nothing.

***

Conner watched as his students practiced on the field. They were still pretty young which is why he had assistant couches helping him out. Most of the kids would just race up and down like a little swarm of children, but he was trying to break them of that habit, making certain to gently correct any mistakes they made. He relaxed for the most part as even a herd of children was easier than what he’d been doing before. He hadn’t been a Power Ranger in several years and while he missed it, that didn’t mean that he didn’t appreciate the calm he hadn’t gotten his senior year. He stretched his arms and glanced up. While he meant for it to just be for a second, a black swirl caught his eye. He stared at it for a moment as a pink light came out and swirled down at him. He stared at it for a second before he heard the cry of crane in his mind. It rushed around him several times and entered him as the portal dragged him up to it, leaving the assistant coaches to deal with the terrified and screaming children.

***

Z looked over her work that she in front of her. She hated Sky right then. She really hated him. Just because he decided to be the commander of SPD didn’t mean she should end up with more paperwork. Yet, Bridge was very bad with paperwork and Sky often looked about ready to kill him every time he did it which meant that for the good of her team, she did it for him. She glanced up from her paperwork and reached for her drink when she saw the black portal forming on the door. She reached over and picked up her communicator to patch in to Dr. Manx. “There’s a large black portal forming on my door…” she said quickly, moving to morph. A red light came out of the portal and swirled around the room before stopping in front of her. She heard the roar of an ape and it engulfed her. She couldn’t get another word out before she was dragged through the black portal, her morpher left behind.

***

Trip happily worked on his own invention after shooing his team off for the hundredth time. He sighed and tried to get back to work as Circuit watched him from the corner. He relaxed, letting the language of technology rush over him. His project moved to the side of its own accord. He blinked for a moment and went to move it back before he noticed the table was being torn in half by something. He stood up and looked at it closely, glancing back at Circuit who was already calling for help. He turned back to it as surge of blue energy rushed out of a portal and grabbed him. He opened his mouth to cry out, but he couldn’t get the words out. He heard the call of a wolf and saw nothing but blue as he was pulled through the portal, his morpher left on the floor and Circuit still calling for help.

***

Madison was working in the record store. The others had managed to convince her that this or that was going on and had completely ditched. That included Toby. To be fair, they often did this to each other at this point when it was a slow day. She sighed and sat back in her chair when she saw the floor beginning to turn black. She didn’t even ponder what it could be before she ran. In her life as a Power Ranger involved with magic, black portals didn’t contain happiness and sunshine. She was halfway to the door when a black light shot out of it and moved in front of her. She tried to head backward, but it moved in the way. She faked going to the left and then went right, but it was already ahead of her and moved in. She heard the croak of a frog and felt a bit of indignity that it would be a frog that would be the one to destroy her as she was pulled through the portal, leaving the shop unattended.

***

Shelby finished her job and headed out. She was so done working at the café, but the others were willing to do it too and as much as she hated it, she needed to be a team player. She also needed to afford her apartment, electricity, and food. She’d never understand Tyler’s fascination with working there, but she at least accepted that he was just always going to be excited about new experiences. It really was adorable. She stretched and headed out the door when she saw the forming portal on the truck. She stared at it for a minute before a yellow light headed out toward her. She took a few steps back, trying to figure out what it was. She heard the roar of the bear. She stood her ground against it as it looked back at her and entered her, pulling her through the portal and leaving her energem behind.

***

Justin felt it coming. He glanced back at Storm Blaster, patting his friend’s hood. When the portal opened and the white energy came out, he looked at it for a minute without saying a word. The cry of the falcon hit his ears. He pulled off his morpher and set it in the jeep before the white light entered him. He didn’t know what was going on, but he did know you can’t escape your destiny. So he wasn’t surprised when the light dragged him in as well. Storm Blaster just let out a sorrowful noise before rushing off to get help.

And with that, the portals ceased to continue opening. While several people were looking into them in alarm, it had all happened too quickly and none of them knew how to follow. There was only hope that they’d find out what had happened and rescue their friends.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being plucked from times and teams, the six Rangers have to figure out the basics before they can handle the larger questions.

Justin was already awake when he landed. He felt a little sore from the Power pushing him, but that was easily fixing itself as the moment it had gotten in to him, he was a Ranger again and all of the healing that came with it. He meant to look around, but the five other humans lying on the ground unconscious caught his attention. Each of them were wearing ninja outfits that he’d only seen in pictures shown to him by Rocky. His old friend had grinned and told him that the others didn’t know they existed and not to tell anyone. Justin had just laughed and helped Rocky hide them better. They were all terrible with secret identities to a point that Superman would have just given them an ‘Are you serious?’ look and the comicbook superhero wore glasses as a surprise. A picture wasn’t going to hurt them. 

He refocused his attention to the here and now. He knew that he was wearing a similar outfit to them, but he glance down to look at the rest of it. The falcon on his chest and the spotless outfit stared back at him and he tried not to laugh about the irony of it. He turned his attention back to the others, but the ninja outfits made it was difficult to see who they were other than they were all asleep. He finally looked around, not recognizing the area. He folded his arms and he took a few breaths to see how it felt. It didn’t smell right, but it seemed to be mostly what they were used to. He was surprised that every planet seemed to have the same consistency of elements in order for human survival, but he wasn’t complaining. It made it easy to help allies and get help in return. Glancing around told him that they probably weren’t on Earth. Not enough of the plant life looked quite right. It wasn’t quiet green enough for Mirinoi. Considering that they weren’t underwater, he doubted they were on Aquitar either. He wasn’t certain about other friendly planets, but he could figure it out later. 

After deciding that he wasn’t going to get any more than that for now, and having little to no wilderness training, he refocused his attention on his potential teammates. He was pretty sure there wasn’t an active threat, though he stayed alert as he tried to look them over. He wasn’t about to shake them awake. Most likely, they were other Rangers and if they weren’t, there still might be problems. He really didn’t feel like getting hit in the mouth because of someone’s PTSD. Without touching them, he couldn’t tell if there was serious damage, but he made sure that bones didn’t look broken nor that any of them were positioned wrong. Getting shoved out of a portal, potentially unconscious, could have side effects. After a minute, he sat down next to them and just waited for them to wake up.

He needed to keep busy, so he focused on their new Ranger Powers. He remembered that Tommy would have been in charge at that time still even if he was wearing white. Which meant that either he or the person in red were in charge. That was a problem of the White Ranger. Any other time, they would have been the sixth but with Tommy, the dynamic was changed. He didn’t see himself as much of a leader so he’d probably let Red have it. He reached to pull back his mask and hood and paused. He didn’t know what else was around and it might be dangerous for him to do it. Best to make the decision when they woke up.

A groan brought him out of his thoughts as Pink was starting to wake up, holding his head. “What was that?”

“The Power,” Justin said easily. Pink looked in his direction. “We’re Power Rangers.”

“Again?” Pink asked and Justin felt more at ease with someone who had been through this as well. He just nodded and Pink blinked. “Huh. That explains the pink light.”

“Circled around you?” Justin asked. Pink nodded.

“Yeah. Caught me off guard. You?” He asked. Justin shrugged.

“I just let it happen,” he admitted. Pink blinked and then laughed.

“That was gutsy,” he said with what Justin was pretty sure was a grin.

There was a quiet moan and they both turned their attention to Blue. Pink was at Blue’s side so fast that Justin wondered if they’d been teammates before. “Hey, you okay?” Pink asked.

“Yeah,” Blue answered, sounding a lot younger than Justin had expected. “My head…”

“Take it easy,” Justin instructed. Blue nodded and then winced from pain. Justin leaned down next to Pink. “You don’t have to push yourself.”

Blue didn’t answer, but let out an affirmative noise. As he did, he looked over to Red was sitting up. He quietly headed over and sat down next to Red. “You alright?” He asked. Red just blinked.

“I’m fine,” Red lied. Justin could tell a lie when he saw one and considering that Pink and Blue had been slightly in pain, he couldn’t imagine that Red was any better. It told him a couple of things right away about the type of person he was dealing with. Then again, all of their interactions had. 

“What happened?” Blue managed to get out.

“We’re Power Rangers,” Pink said cheerfully. Blue looked at him, blinked, and nodded.

“Oh,” he said, trying to pull himself together. “There wasn’t a portal last time.”

Justin started to relax as his first instincts were correct. These were other Power Rangers. That meant that he wasn’t going to have to deal with explaining everything to someone knew. Red nodded in agreement with Blue.

“I was sitting at my desk, doing paperwork, and it came out. I called for help, but it was faster.” She sounded annoyed more than anything. Justin looked at Blue.

“How did you react?” He asked. Blue looked a little embarrassed.

“I, uh, froze,” he admitted. “I wanted to call out, but I couldn’t.”

Justin looked thoughtful at them. “Hmm…”

“What is it?” Pink asked curiously, seeing that something was going through Justin’s mind even if he wasn’t on the same track. Justin was about to answer him when Yellow started to waken.

“Whoa. Where am I? Who are you? Why do I feel like I got hit by a truck?” Yellow demanded. Justin smiled in amusement. Red wasn’t much better, though she rolled her eyes a bit.

“You’re fine,” she said in amusement, though Justin was amused to see her checking Yellow over. “We’re Power Rangers.”

“I already am a Power Ranger,” Yellow said in confusion and looked at her hands. “A yellow Ranger?”

“What’s wrong with yellow?” Red asked.

“Nothing!” Yellow said. “I’ve just never seen a yellow Ranger before.”

Justin looked surprised. “I haven’t heard of a team not having a yellow Power Ranger,” he admitted. Yellow looked a little annoyed.

“I was heading out and there was a portal and this yellow light came out. I took a couple steps back, got ready to fight, and that’s the last thing I remember. Oh! And the bear,” she said. Before they could respond, a quiet voice spoke up. 

“Am I dead?” They looked over to see that Black hadn’t bothered to sit up as she asked the question and her voice was filled with way too much resignation for Justin not to be worried. Justin wondered how bad it had been for Black for that question to be asked.

“Not yet,” Pink said, sounding as worried as he felt. Yellow made a face.

“Are you okay?” She asked. Black just nodded, starting to pull herself up.

“What happened?” Justin asked.

“There was the portal and the light from the portal,” she answered. “I ran, but it caught up with me.”

Justin nodded. “It sounds like the harder we fought, the worse it was,” he said quietly. They all just looked at him, but he’d turned his attention to Red. He reached up toward the mask, pausing to see what she thought and she nodded. Both of them took off their masks and hoods at the same time. The others quickly followed suit as they looked each other over. Justin didn’t recognize any of them.

“Conner?” Red asked in surprise when Pink took his mask off. Justin looked between them as Conner just looked surprised and confused.

“You know each other?” He asked. Conner shook his head.

“I don’t think so,” he said. Red looked a little embarrassed at that.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “You remind me of someone I knew.”

Justin wasn’t sure if Conner knew it, but he could tell she was lying. Still, now probably wasn’t the time to call her out on it. Conner shrugged it off. “Don’t worry about it. You’re right. Conner is my name,” he said, putting out his hand toward her.

“Z,” Red answered, shaking his hand.

“I’m Shelby,” Yellow said quickly, bringing herself up a bit. Justin tried not to feel amused.

“Trip,” Blue said shyly.

“Madison,” Black said, still looking completely unsure. Justin looked at all of them and knew it was his turn. He took a gamble off of Conner’s earlier statement.

“Justin,” he said before taking a chance that he wasn’t completely breaking Zordon’s rules. “I was the Blue Turbo Power Ranger.”

Conner looked at him. “Huh,” he said. “You looked younger in Doctor O’s photos. Like way younger.”

“I was twelve,” Justin said sardonically as he ran through his list of people and smirked. “You worked with Tommy.”

“Red Dino Thunder,” he agreed and the two clasped hands. “If you were twelve when you started, how old are you now?” Conner asked. Justin stretched.

“22,” he answered. Conner nodded.

“If I remember Ethan’s reminders about the vid we watched,” he started. “Then you should be my age. But I’m only twenty. It’s been two years after I was a Ranger and over ten for you.”

“One for me,” Trip said, trying to help. Justin gave a nod in his direction.

“Which were you?” He asked politely.

“Time Force Green,” he answered.

“Mystic Force Blue,” Madison said, looking uncomfortable. “And about two years after.”

“Three,” Z said. “And I was SPD Yellow.”

Justin didn’t recognize the team, but considering the various time jumps, he wasn’t surprised. The one that did look surprised was Shelby.

“I’m still a Ranger. Dino Charge Pink,” she said, her eyes growing wider as she realized what she’d said. “My team…!”

“Will be okay,” Justin assured her. “The Power will make sure of it.”

The others quickly nodded in agreement though he had the feeling that at least some of them weren’t that sure. Justin felt awkward at this point. He knew that they had to have had as much experience as him, but he’d been in the world far longer. Ten years was a lot longer than three. That said, Z immediately pulled herself into leadership mode in a way that he wasn’t sure most Rangers knew how to do. “We need to figure out what’s going on here.”

He felt a little relief at that as he was in complete agreement. “I recognize the powers,” he offered and they all turned to look at him. “Mighty Morphin wore them. If I remember right, they’re based on different animals.”

“I heard a monkey sound,” Z agreed. “Or like a Gorilla or something.”

“I think that it’s an ape,” Justin answered. “I just don’t know why we have them now.”

“Because someone decided that we needed them,” Conner said with a shrug. Justin felt a little realized that Tommy’s ‘you were chosen’ ideals were benefiting him at the moment. “Isn’t that how it works?”

“I was handed my morpher,” Z said. Unfortunately, it looked like he was the only one. “It didn’t just happen.”

“Same,” Trip said. Justin nodded as well as Madison. Shelby shrugged.

“I found mine,” she admitted. They all looked at her. “I was trying to protect it.”

“And I, uh, borrowed mine,” Conner said as they all looked at him.

“Borrowed?” Justin asked, raising an eyebrow. Conner looked sheepish.

“Stole,” he admitted. “Doctor O was our science teacher, he promised to cancel detention if we found something prehistoric, we fell down a hole, found the base, and the gems were sitting there. They looked prehistoric.”

“You stole them?” Madison asked. “You can’t just steal your powers!”

“It wasn’t our finest moment,” Conner snapped. Justin quickly broke in.

“Maybe not,” he said. “But it’s in the past now. You’re one of us.”

Z nodded emphatically and Justin couldn’t help but to wonder what her backstory was. For now, they just needed to focus. He looked at the others, trying to change the subject.

“I heard a bird,” he said. “Since I’m dressed in all white, I’m assuming I got the falcon. Trip, I think you have the wolf.”

Trip nodded wildly and Justin gave him a quick smile before turning Shelby. “Yellow was a bear.”

“A bear?” Shelby asked and looked pensive for a minute before grinning. “It’s not a Triceratops, but that’s pretty cool.”

He grinned back at her and then looked at Conner. He wasn’t sure how to bring it up the color, but Conner did it for him. “So, what was pink?” He asked.

“You don’t mind?” He asked, feeling a little relieved.

“Are you kidding? I’m the closest to my regular color,” he said. “Pink is just red lite.”

The amount of sheer belief in the statement told Justin that this must have happened before. Shelby looked at him. “Red lite?”

“Look, when I started the camps, one of the kids did his laundry and mixed his reds and whites. Everything was a little pink. Some of the other kids were making fun of him for it, but some of the others did it themselves. So did I. Because pink is red lite.”

“Pink is dangerous anyway,” Z agreed. “My best friend is a Pink Ranger and she’s stubborn.”

The two quickly clasped hands in agreement and Shelby grinned. “You bet pink is dangerous.”

Conner gave her a grin back before he looked back at Justin. “So, what awesome animal did I get?”

“The crane,” he answered. At Conner’s confusion, he thought about it for a minute. “Kind like a stork. Or flamingo.”

“Cool!” Conner said cheerfully and looked at Z. “Cranes can fly.”

“I’m not sure if you can fly,” Justin warned. Conner looked disappointed, but shrugged it off. He turned his attention to Madison who looked completely unhappy.

“I have a frog,” she said. Justin looked at her.

“What’s wrong with frogs?” He asked, trying not to be amused that he’d heard that was pretty much Adam’s reaction at first. She looked a little embarrassed and he gave her an encouraging smile. Z joined him.

“We won’t laugh,” she promised. Madison sighed.

“I’m afraid of frogs,” she muttered. There wasn’t laughter, but there was a silence for a minute before Trip looked thoughtful.

“Then you must be really brave!” He said. They all looked at him. “You’re here and you’re dealing even though you got an animal you’re afraid of!”

Justin nodded. “And maybe it’s trying to help you through your fear,” he offered. She looked at him in confusion, but still nodded. Z looked at all of them.

“We need to figure out where we are and why we’re here,” she said, trying to sound in charge. Justin had no doubt she could do it, but he wished that she wouldn’t see to think that she needed to be rather than she wanted to be. It was almost like she was following the motions and he wondered how her time had been. He made a note to ask about their times as Rangers later. He had the feeling it might be important.

“So,” Conner said. “How do we do that?”

“Pick a direction. If we can find someone, maybe we can get some answers,” Justin said with a shrug. “We have no idea where we are.”

Z looked both ways and pointed. “This way.”

“Why that way?” Trip asked curiously.

“Sometimes going downhill leads to water, right?” She asked. Madison looked thoughtful.

“Usually,” she answered. “Hold on.”

She reached out with her magic and sensed the way that the water was running down before looking back at Z. “I think you’re right.”

Z blinked. “You can sense water?”

“Water wizard,” she answered. Z nodded in approval. “Did you spend a lot of time in the woods?”

“Nope,” Z answered. “I had a teammate who took survival training and we had a bet on who could do better. I figured this out: Water is usually a good thing to have.”

Justin liked her logic. They headed off in that direction, not certain of what they would find.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to know each other.

It was a longer trek than they’d imagined, but partially that was because they hadn’t known where they were going. They could only hope they were heading to a river, but even Madison admitted that she could only tell the direction of the water right now instead of what it was headed for. For the first twenty minutes, it was just quiet. Justin didn’t mind the silence even if he wasn’t used to it being around Power Rangers. “So, dinosaurs.” Apparently Conner wasn’t either. He’s moved up next to Shelby and was looking completely calm. Shelby just looked back at him. “Which dinosaur did you have?”

“Triceratops,” she said. He looked at her and then just started laughing. “What?”

“I’m just looking forward to Ethan’s face when I tell him that his dinosaur is pink for the new team,” he said. At her annoyed look, he held up his hands. “He doesn’t believe in my ‘red-lite’ idea.”

Justin could understand why and agreed with Conner’s teammate. He had been around way too many Red Rangers in his life and adding more in was not a good idea. That said, he wasn’t about to say that to Conner or Shelby since both of them seemed to believe it whole-heartedly. Justin inwardly sighed and made a mental note to keep an eye on both of them as well as Z. “Well that’s stupid,” Shelby sniffed. Conner grinned.

“I know,” he answered. “So we’ll just annoy him for it.”

“Deal,” she said and the two shook hands. Justin glanced over to see Z just holding her head and knew that he wasn’t alone in his feelings. Shelby pressed on. “So what did you have?”

“Tyrannosaurus Rex,” he said with a grin and paused. “Do any of your Rangers have a T-Rex?”

“Rexy,” she said with a grin and Conner looked confused. “Tyler, our Red Ranger, named him Rexy.”

Conner just laughed. “I think I like your Red,” he said, completely amused. “I guess they don’t change. Jason’s was red too.”

“Jason?” She asked and Conner nodded.

“There were three Dino teams: Mighty Morphin, Dino Thunder, and now Dino Charge,” he answered. She nodded at that and then shifted it back to his team.

“So, what other dinosaurs did you guys have?” She asked.

“Well, Kira was our Yellow and she had a pterodactyl…”

“Pteradactyls aren’t dinosaurs,” Shelby said quickly. He looked at her. “They’re pterosaurs.”

“There’s a difference?” Conner asked and Shelby rolled her eyes.

“Yes, there’s a difference,” she answered.

“Okay,” Conner said with a shrug before continuing. “Doctor O was our black Ranger and got the brachiosaurus. And our White Ranger, Trent, had the Dragozord.”

“You are so making that up,” Shelby said, arms folded.

“That’s what he called it!” He said. 

“What did it look like?” She asked.

“It was big, it flew, and it had a thing on its head. Uh… a crest!” He said. Shelby looked pensive.

“So, it was another pterosaur?” She asked. 

“Uh… sure?” Conner offered. She folded her arms.

“Two of your teammates didn’t even have dinosaurs!” She exclaimed. Conner was not about to lose face.

“The first team had a pterodactyl, a mastodon, and a sabertooth tiger. Ethan thinks the Power just goes with ‘prehistoric’. I think it goes with ‘Really, really old,’” Conner informed her. To his surprise, she busted up laughing at that and he just joined in. “What about you?”

“Well, Koda is our blue and he has a stegosaurus,” she started. “Chase is Black and has a Parasaurolophus. And Riley is green and has a raptor.”

“Cool,” Conner said with a grin. “What about your mentor? What are they like?”

“Miss Morgan,” Shelby said. “She’s also my boss and kinda has it out for me.”

Conner gave her a sympathetic smile. “Mine was my science teacher,” he said. “Trust me, it was a pain in the ass during finals.”

“Seriously?” She asked and he nodded. “Wow.”

“Yeah,” he said. “It could have been worse. We all still keep in contact and he’s pretty cool now. So, maybe yours will surprise you. Besides, mine is half the reason everything evil was made so at least you’re not having to deal with that.”

Justin looked over and groaned. “Please tell me you’re joking,” he begged. “And that Tommy didn’t nearly start an apocalypse?”

“I thought you guys didn’t know each other,” Shelby said. Justin laughed.

“We don’t,” he said. “But I fought with his mentor.”

“Oh hey! Doctor O mentioned you a few times,” Conner said with a grin. “Usually with a ‘thank the Power Justin wasn’t this bad’.”

Justin blinked. “Really?”

“Yep!” Conner said cheerfully. “And I’m not joking because he made these things called tyrannodrones and Mesagog got ahold of them…”

“He really did nearly start the apocalypse,” Justin groaned. Madison looked over at Conner.

“Your mentor is the reason you had to become a Power Ranger which you did by stealing a gem?” She asked. Conner frowned.

“Half the reason,” Conner said quickly, defending the mentor he had just before tossed under the bus. “And you need to get over the gem thing. The Power chooses the person it wants to choose.”

“Jen gave me mine,” Trip said quietly and the all turned to him. “We were from the future, we had four spare morphers, and she gave me the green one.”

“Udonna gave me mine,” Madison said. “She said that we were all brave and gave us each one. We had to believe in magic for it to work, but that was it. I didn’t know there were other ways.”

Justin smiled a bit. “I was hiding under a bed,” he said, not at all surprised when they looked at him.

“Why?” Z asked and Justin realized that other than possibly Conner who knew from Tommy, none of them had paid attention to how old he would have been.

“I was trying to visit my friend, Rocky,” he answered. “He’s gotten hurt and was in the hospital. I was hiding from the others and found out they were all Power Rangers, including Rocky. I went in Rocky’s place. He still hasn’t forgiven himself for it.”

“Why?” Madison asked.

“He was twelve,” Trip and Conner said together. Justin whipped his head around toward them as fast as everyone did toward him.

“I know how you know,” he said, looking at Conner before looking at Trip. “How do you know?”

“After we got back to the future, Jen made us study all of the Ranger Teams she could find in case we needed to do a teamup,” he answered and paused. “Also because she wanted to know who Wes would be fighting with.”

“I’m confused,” Shelby said. “Why wasn’t Wes with you? Who is Wes? Who is Jen? You were twelve? Who the hell lets a twelve year old be a Power Ranger?!”

“Wes was our Red Ranger,” Trip said. “Jen was our Pink Ranger.”

He looked at Justin, not knowing how to answer to the last two questions. “Yes, I was twelve. And someone desperate,” he answered. “The first mentor was Zordon and he made questionable choices sometimes. I loved him and I know he loved us. I think that was part of it. Two of the people involved were former Power Rangers. Kim and Jason. He needed another Power Ranger to finish the team so they would be okay. When I found out, he made the decision to let me do it. It wasn’t the right choice, but I don’t think he was thinking straight. I kinda wonder if it wasn’t just coincidence that let him finally go home after that. I’ve always wondered if he decided to leave because he thought he wasn’t able to be objective anymore. I mean, he did put a little kid in danger to try to save two near adults.”

“You sound calm about this,” Z mentioned. Justin shrugged.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think it over,” he answered. “What about you, Z? How did you get your morpher?”

“I got arrested for stealing and the Commander offered me a deal,” she answered. Conner looked at her and grinned before looking at a horrified Madison.

“See? Not just my group,” he said proudly. “So, a commander? Are you military then?”

“I’m a cop,” she said dryly. “SPD stands for Space Patrol Delta. Commander Cruger gave me my yellow morpher, I got the green one when Bridge moved up to blue, and then the blue morpher when Bridge took the red one.”

Justin even looked confused, though it did explain what he’s been thinking before. “The colors were a ranking system?”

Z nodded. “Red leads, then blue, then green, then yellow, and then pink.”

“Whoa! Pink is last?” Shelby asked, looking a little insulted. Conner put his hand on her shoulder.

“For the record, I don’t think any of us need it, but I am not the last in charge,” Conner said. Madison looked panicked.

“If it was my team, I would have been second in command,” she said quietly. Justin patted her shoulder.

“Me too,” he said. “Except I would have been twelve.”

“Jen was in charge,” Trip said firmly. “Not Wes. After Jen, Wes was second or Lucas was. It depended on the situation.”

Justin looked at Z and took her hand, squeezing it as she looked just as confused as they had. “You are a yellow Ranger and now a Red Ranger,” he said gently. “I know how your group did things, but most Power Rangers don’t have that strict of a ranking. No one expects you to have all the answers or lead perfectly.”

“My mentor took over a lot for my group when he got his morpher,” Conner said, completely calm.

“Nick wasn’t able to use his morpher for a bit after we did,” Madison said. “He didn’t believe in magic.”

“Don’t you use magic?” Shelby asked. Madison nodded. “Wow.”

“I think it’s because he was lost as a baby in the middle of a magic war,” she explained. “Still.”

“Wes was great!” Trip said enthusiastically. “We found him when we came back in time, but even he listened to Jen.”

Justin gave them appreciative smiles before looking back at Z. “You don’t have to try so hard.”

Z relaxed a bit and gave him a look. “Obvious?”

“Yeah,” he said with a slight smile. “I’ve seen worse.”

She gave nodded and shared his smile. “Thanks,” she said.

“Anytime,” he answered. They reached the river soon after, watching as it headed down. Justin glanced at Z. “So, survivor training tell you where to go to find people?”

“No,” she answered and grinned. “But Ranger training tells me to ask the lady who deals with water.”

They both looked over at Madison who was calmly manipulating the water to make it more drinkable for the group. She glanced up at them. “Downstream,” she answered, containing it in a magic bubble to Shelby’s amusement. Conner was staying much farther away from the edge, though he was giving Madison a thumbs up. Justin looked between them and filed that away for later. Shelby reached into the bubbled and pulled out some of the water within, drinking it. Justin quickly did the same, not certain how long she could hold it and Trip was right on his heels with the same worry. Z finished it and Madison walked over to where Conner was and offered it. He took his bit and she took hers, finishing off the bubble.

Justin set his hand on her shoulder and she smiled. “I’m fine,” she said, trying to dry her hands. “It’s a harder without the wand, but it’s like it’s part of me now.”

“Don’t overdo it,” he told her. She nodded. “So, downstream?”

“Downstream,” she said and Z led the way, followed by Justin. The other four followed behind and Madison met Trip’s eyes and glanced at Conner. He nodded and headed over by Shelby. He looked like he was struggling to say anything to her when she looked back at him. He wasn’t sure what they’d had in common.

“So, your pink was the leader?” She asked eagerly and Trip quickly grasped at the straw, telling her how awesome Jen had been. Madison waited a few minutes before leaning into Conner.

“I won’t let you drown,” she whispered. He whipped his head toward her and forced a laugh.

“I’m not afraid of the water,” he answered. “I just can’t swim.”

She gave a non-committal nod. “Okay,” she answered. “If you want, I can teach you.”

“I don’t want anyone else to know,” he said. She nodded and touched his arm, giving a silent promise. He didn’t want this to be like yet Ethan’s teasing tone always came back. He knew that Ethan heavily regretted it and they hadn’t been friends at the time, but it still stung. He didn’t want another team to see this specific weakness. He had plenty of others for them to see instead.

“So, magic. That had to be cool. I know a Blue Ranger who would have been jealous,” he said with a grin, the past topic dropped. He glanced over to see that Trip and Shelby had made their way back to them. Trip had moved to Madison’s other side while Shelby had rejoined Conner, but they were still clustered.

“It was a surprise,” Madison answered. “We were trying to help an old man who turned out to be our mentor. She was looking for people brave enough to be Power Rangers. She gave us our wands, turned them into morphers, and taught us to use them.”

“So, what was your zord?” Conner asked.

“A mermaid,” she said quietly, but with a smile. Shelby’s eyes shone.

“That’s awesome,” she said. Trip looked a little confused.

“What’s a mermaid?” He asked.

“Something that’s half human and half fish,” Madison answered.

“Fish tail, human body,” Shelby added. 

Trip nodded. “I’d like to see one sometime,” he said. Shelby bit her lip.

“Trip, they aren’t…” she started but Conner touched her shoulder.

“Easy to find,” he finished. “I think Doctor O said some other Ranger saw one, but I can’t remember who. Ethan would know.”

“How does Ethan know and you don’t?” Madison asked in amusement.

“Because Ethan paid attention,” Conner answered. Shelby was snickering as Madison shook her head and Trip just looked surprised. “I always just ask Ethan. Speaking of which, did you get any cool dinosaur powers, Shelby?”

“No, is that a thing?” She asked and he shrugged.

“I had superspeed, but I lost it when I lost the Power,” he answered.

“I’m jealous,” Shelby informed him. “Really jealous.”

He grinned back at her. “So was Jason. ‘Superspeed would have helped. And if Kim could have pterascreamed, I wouldn’t have had to listen to ‘Tommy save me!’ ever five minutes.’ Kim and Doctor O both threw pillows at him.”

Justin looked back in surprise. “You’ve met Kim and Jason?” He asked and Conner nodded.

“We had a one year reunion at the school,” he answered. “They figured that was a good time to meet us.”  
“How come he hasn’t introduced us yet?” Justin asked in annoyance and Conner laughed.

“He had nothing to do with it,” Conner assured him. “Kim and Jason found out. Hayley said that Jason tries to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t do stupid stuff.”

“How is that working?”

“Badly,” Conner said in amusement.

“The minute we get back,” Justin warned. “I’m looking you up.”

Conner just laughed, though there was a bit of a darkness over them. Considering they didn’t know where they were, they weren’t sure if they would ever go back. They tried to shrug it off and have confidence in Justin’s flippant comment. Justin let them go back to talking as he turned his attention forward. He felt a hand on his arm and turned to Z.

“We’ll get back,” she said firmly. He gently pulled his arm from her grip and squeezed her hand.

“Right,” he said just as firmly. The journey continued and within an hour, they finally caught site of smoke in the air and hope of seeing some sort of civilization.


End file.
